Moulin Rouge! (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows a British poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan Satine.
The film uses the musical setting of the Montmartre Quarter of Paris and is the final part of Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy, following Strictly Ballroom (1992) and Romeo + Juliet (1996). A co-production of Australia and the United States, it features an ensemble cast starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, with Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh, John Leguizamo, Jacek Koman, and Caroline O'Connor in supporting roles.
Moulin Rouge! premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and was released in theaters on 25 May 2001 in Australia and on 1 June 2001 in North America. The film was praised for Luhrmann's direction, the performances of the cast, its soundtrack, costume design, and production values. It was also a commercial success, grossing $179 million on a $50 million budget. At the 74th Academy Awards, the film received eight nominations, including Best Picture, and won two (Best Production Design and Best Costume Design). Later critical reception for Moulin Rouge! remained positive and has been considered by many to be one of the best films of all time, with it ranking 53rd in the BBC's 2016 poll of the 100 greatest films of the 21st century. A stage musical adaptation premiered in 2018.
Plot In 1900 in Paris, Christian, a young writer depressed and grief-stricken about the recent death of the woman he loved, begins writing their story on his typewriter.
A year earlier in 1899, he arrives in the Montmartre district of Paris to join the Bohemian movement. He suddenly meets Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and his troupe of performers who are writing a play called Spectacular Spectacular. After Christian helps them complete the play, they go to the Moulin Rouge where they hope Christian's talents will impress Satine, the star performer and courtesan, who will in turn convince Harold Zidler, the proprietor of the Moulin Rouge, to let Christian write the show. However, Zidler plans to have the wealthy, powerful and unscrupulous Duke of Monroth sleep with Satine in exchange for potential financing to convert the club into a theater.
That night, Satine mistakes Christian for the Duke and attempts to seduce him by dancing with him before retiring to her chamber with him to discuss things privately, but eventually Christian reveals his true identity. After the Duke interrupts them, Satine claims that the two of them and the Bohemians were rehearsing Spectacular Spectacular. Aided by Zidler, Christian and the Bohemians improvise a story for the Duke about a beautiful Indian courtesan who falls in love with a poor sitar player she mistook for a wealthy but evil maharaja. Approving the story, the Duke agrees to invest, but only if Satine and the Moulin Rouge are turned over to him. Later, Satine claims not to be in love with Christian, but he eventually wears down her resolve and they kiss.
During construction at the Moulin Rouge, Christian and Satine's love deepens while the Duke becomes frustrated with all the time he thinks Satine is spending with Christian working on the play. To calm him, Zidler arranges for Satine to spend the night with the Duke and angrily tells her to end her affair with Christian. She misses the dinner when she falls unconscious, leading a doctor to diagnose a fatal case of consumption. She does try to end things by telling Christian that their relationship is endangering the production, but Christian writes a secret song to include in the show that affirms their unending, passionate love.
At the final rehearsal, can-can dancer Nini hints to the Duke that the play represents the relationship between him, Christian, and Satine. Enraged, the Duke demands that the show end with the courtesan marrying the maharaja, instead of Christian's ending where she marries the sitar player. Satine promises to spend the night with him after which they will decide on the ending. Ultimately, she fails to seduce the Duke due to her feelings for Christian, and Le Chocolat, one of the cabaret dancers, saves her from the Duke's attempt to rape her. Christian decides that he and Satine should leave the show behind and run away to be together while the Duke vows to kill Christian.
Zidler finds Satine in her dressing room packing. He tells her that her illness is fatal, that the Duke is planning on murdering Christian, and that if she wants Christian to live, she must cut him off completely and be with the Duke. Mustering all her acting abilities, she complies, leaving Christian devastated.
On the opening night of the show, in front of a full audience, Christian denounces Satine and vows to give her to the Duke before walking off the stage, but Toulouse-Lautrec cries out from the rafters, "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." This spurs Satine to sing their secret song, causing Christian to change his mind. After Zidler and the company thwart several attempts by the Duke and his bodyguard to kill Christian, the show ends with Christian and Satine proclaiming their love as the Duke permanently storms out of the cabaret. The audience erupts in applause, but Satine collapses after the curtains close. Before dying in his arms, she tells Christian to write their story so she will always be with him.
Six months later, the Moulin Rouge has closed down and is in disrepair; Zidler, the Duke, the Diamond Dogs, and the Bohemians are gone; and Christian overcomes his grief by finishing his and Satine's story, declaring their love will live forever.
Cast
Production
Writing and inspiration Moulin Rouge! was influenced by an eclectic variety of comic and melodramatic musical sources, including the Hollywood musical, "vaudeville, cabaret culture, stage musicals, and operas." Its musical elements also allude to Luhrmann's earlier film Strictly Ballroom.
Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème, which Luhrmann directed at the Sydney Opera House in 1993, was a key source of the plot for Moulin Rouge!. Further stylistic inspiration came from Luhrmann's encounter with Bollywood films during his visit to India while conducting research for his 1993 production of Benjamin Britten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream. According to Luhrmann:
In the DVD's audio commentary, Luhrmann revealed that he also drew from the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. The filmmakers projected the Orpheus figure onto Christian by characterizing the latter as a musical genius whose talent surpassed that of everyone else in his world. The film's use of songs from the mid- to late 20th century in the 1899 setting makes Christian appear ahead of his time as a musician and writer. Moulin Rouge!′s plot also parallels that of the myth: "McGregor, as a poet who spouts deathless verse . . . , descends into a hellish underworld of prostitution and musical entertainment in order to retrieve Kidman, the singing courtesan who loves him but is enslaved to a diabolical duke. He rescues her but looks back and . . . cue Queen's 'The Show Must Go On.'"
Commentators have also noted the similarities between the film's plot and those of the opera La Traviata and Émile Zola's novel Nana. Other cinematic elements appear to have been borrowed from the musical films Cabaret, Folies Bergère de Paris, and Meet Me in St. Louis.
The character of Satine was based on the French can-can dancer Jane Avril. The character of Harold Zidler shares his last name with Charles Zidler, one of the owners of the real Moulin Rouge. Satie was loosely based on the French composers Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel. Môme Fromage, Le Pétomane, and Le Chocolat share their names with performers at the actual cabaret. Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Rita Hayworth were cited as inspirations for the film's "look."
Development Leonardo DiCaprio, who worked with Luhrmann on Romeo + Juliet, unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Christian - even going so far as to sing. Ethan Hawke also read for the role. Luhrmann also considered younger actors for the role, including Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, before Ewan McGregor won the part. On Heath Ledger's audition, Luhrmann went on to say in 2026: "Heath Ledger was actually really extraordinary and he and Nicole (Kidman) were extraordinary together. He was just a bit too young... it became another thing, you know? But the footage of Heath and Nicole is really beautiful and we often talk about that."Baz Luhrmann reveals Leonardo DeCaprio auditioned (and sang!) to be in MOULIN ROUGE Josh Horowitz February 2026 interview clip Courtney Love auditioned for the role of Satine and gave approval for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to be used in the film. Luhrmann had initially wanted John Leguizamo for the role of the Unconscious Argentinian, as he was seeking Rowan Atkinson for the role of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Leguizamo convinced Luhrmann to let him audition for the latter role, and ultimately won it.
Filming Production began on 9 November 1999 and was completed on 13 May 2000, with a budget of $50 million. It was shot on the sound stages at Fox Studios in Sydney. Filming generally went smoothly, but Kidman broke her ribs twice when she was lifted into the air during the dance sequences. She also suffered from a torn knee cartilage resulting from a fall during the "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" production song. Kidman later stated in an interview with Graham Norton that she broke a rib while getting into a corset by tightening it as much as possible to achieve an 18-inch waist, and that she fell down the stairs while dancing in heels. Kidman also experienced a recurring knee injury while filming, making her drop out of the lead role in Panic Room. The production overran its shooting schedule and had to be out of the sound stages to make way for Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (which also starred McGregor). This necessitated the filming of some pick-up shots in Madrid.
In the liner notes to the film's Special Edition DVD, Luhrmann writes that "[the] whole stylistic premise has been to decode what the Moulin Rouge was to the audiences of 1899 and express that same thrill and excitement in a way to which contemporary movie-goers can relate." Both Roger Ebert and The New York Times compared the film's editing and cinematography to that of a music video and noted its visual homage to early Technicolor films.
Music Marsha Kinder describes Moulin Rouge! as a "brilliant," "celebratory," and "humorous" musical and aural pastiche due to its use of diverse songs. Moulin Rouge! takes well-known popular music, mostly drawn from the MTV Generation, and juxtaposes it into a tale set in a turn-of-the-century Paris cabaret.Liner notes, Special Edition DVD Kinder holds that keeping borrowed lyrics and melodies intact "makes it almost impossible for spectators to miss the poaching [of songs] (even if they cannot name the particular source)."
The film uses so much popular music that it took Luhrmann two and a half years to secure the rights to all of the songs. Some of the songs sampled include "Chamma Chamma" from the Hindi movie China Gate, Queen's "The Show Must Go On" (arranged in operatic format), David Bowie's rendition of Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy", "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle (in the Christina Aguilera/P!nk/Mýa/Lil' Kim cover commissioned for the film), Madonna's "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin", Elton John's "Your Song", the titular number of The Sound of Music, "Roxanne" by The Police (in a tango format using the composition "Tanguera" by Mariano Mores), and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.